New process scheduled to begin at Diversified Plastics

Diversified Plastics Corporation of Nixa has signed a contract with Amvic Systems Inc. of Toronto to manufacture and ship the Canadian company's insulated concrete forms.

Bob Broyles, sales and marketing director for Diversified, described the insulated concrete form, or ICF, industry as "the fastest-growing construction technology in the world today."

Amvic's ICFs, Broyles said, are used to construct concrete houses and buildings that are energy-efficient, environmentally safe, sound-deadening, fire-resistant and strong enough to withstand major storm systems.

"We were immediately attracted to the strength of design and quality of the actual form molding," Broyles said. The 2-1/2-inch thick foam panels are held together with plastic ties, notched to hold reinforced bar, and spaced to hold 6 inches of concrete. The foam panels fit together like Lego blocks to form exterior walls, and the concrete is pumped into the center cavity. Since the foam provides an insulating barrier, concrete can be pumped on all but the coldest days without risk of freezing.

"Concrete needs to hydrate for a month or longer to obtain maximum strength," he said. "Since the foam insulators allow the wall to dry slowly, it creates the strongest wall imaginable."

The patented Amvic forms were developed in Canada by structural engineer Victor Amend, PhD. Founded only three years ago, Amvic has rapidly grown into a multimillion-dollar business in Canada and the United States.

Diversified Plastics has been in business in Nixa for 30 years. Ken Magers, president and co-owner of the company, said that the business started by providing custom foam packing material and grew to include the custom injection molding used in automobiles. "All vehicles have some energy-absorbing foam to protect against head injury," Magers said.

The firm also provides foam patterns for the foundry industry.

Diversified started its injection-molding plant, Accurate Plastics, about five years after the original Diversified plant opened. The two adjacent plants also maintain their own fleets of tractor trailer trucks, which allows the company to ship product throughout the United States, Mexico and Canada.

Shortly after the Accurate plant was established in Nixa, Diversified opened an additional plant in Centralia, which today employs 75 of the company's total 450 employees.

According to Magers, he and co-owners Garnett Carnahan, Marvin Carnahan and Scott Schaefer are "always on the lookout" for new and inventive plastics products. "Our vision has been to diversify in as many directions as practical in order to be a premium plastics supplier," he said. "We have the kind of quality personnel to take advantage of opportunity."

The construction of Diversified's multilevel office complex in 1981 incorporated insulated concrete forms. Broyles said that the use of foam made it obviously worth looking into for possible production.

In addition, Magers kept an eye on the industry for many years to determine if the product had a place at Diversified. "We finally found an ICF of good enough quality we could put our name to it," he said.

Although ICF construction is more expensive than conventional wood frame housing, the energy efficiency alone helps offset the up-front expense. Amvic founder Amend estimates that the product can cut heating and cooling costs as much as 50 percent. In addition to storm and fire resistance and energy efficiency, benefits are said to include cleaner indoor air and resistance to damaging mold and insects.

Diversified has sent some of its key people to Canada for orientation and training in production of the ICF panels. Other staff members will be trained locally. The company is working with Ozarks Technical Community College to provide ICF training to other people in the construction trade, Broyles said.

Diversified also is scheduled to build a new pre school and day-care center using ICF construction on the OTC campus.

In addition, the company is soon to accept delivery on a nearly $900,000 piece of equipment custom-made in Austria to manufacture the ICF plastic components.

Once in place at the local plant, production will begin to supply contractors throughout the central United States market area with Amvic ICFs. The product will be distributed in Missouri and Kansas by the Carter-Waters Corp-oration, which recently added an office in Springfield with its purchase of JM Specialty Sales. According to Broyles, Carter-Waters will provide customer support on Amvic and the bracing, waterproofing, exterior finish, tools and supplies necessary to ICF projects.

Diversified plans to market the product to both residential and commercial builders. Broyles is convinced that builders in this area, aware that lumber is getting higher in price and lower in quality, are looking for a safer, stronger permanent structure. He feels they will look to ICF construction, as builders have in other parts of the country.

Diversified is working with the Federal Energy Management Agency, FEMA, to spread the word about the benefits of ICF construction. To keep abreast of local construction trends and be an active part of the building industry, Diversified has become a member of The Insulated Concrete Association, Construction Spe-cifications Institute, Concrete Promotion Council of the Ozarks, and Home Builders Association.